Atlantic Treaty Association in Kyiv discusses new Strategic Concept

From 7 to 10 October, delegates attending the Atlantic Treaty Association's (ATA) 55th General Assembly in Kyiv, Ukraine, debated issues around enlargement and partnerships, Afghanistan and NATO's new Strategic Concept.

“We must answer the question – what will NATO look like in the near future, in 2020?” said Jean-François Bureau, NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, during his opening address.

“We know that the challenges, the threats we are going to address in the next period of time will be very demanding,” said Mr Bureau, mentioning Afghanistan, energy security, and cyber defence. “NATO is … a unique organization which can deal with all of these issues at the same time… It has to be built on cooperation, it has to be built on partnership, it has to be built on common achievement. That’s the purpose of the Strategic Concept,” he added.

Underlining that the new Strategic Concept should be understandable and accessible for all, Mr Bureau thanked the ATA delegates for their participation in the discussions and for reaching out to the civil society.

The ATA is one of the largest public forums dealing with security issues. Created in 1954, it brings together national voluntary and non-governmental organizations from NATO member countries to support the activities of the Alliance and promote the objectives of the North Atlantic Treaty.

Since the early 1990's, the ATA has admitted associate members from NATO Partner countries. Ukraine has been an ATA associate member since 1995.